WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Antony Blinken mentioned Wednesday that there could also be as many as 1,500 Americans in Afghanistan left to evacuate, a calculation that he described as “difficult to pin down with absolute precision at any given moment.”
Blinken mentioned throughout a press convention that the U.S. at present is “aggressively reaching out” to about 1,000 contacts “multiple times a day, through multiple channels of communication” to find out in the event that they nonetheless need to depart and to present them directions on how to take action. However, the last word quantity is likely to be decrease, Blinken mentioned.
Blinken added that the State Department has been in direct contact with 500 different Americans within the final 24 hours with directions on how you can safely journey to the airport for evacuation.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks about refugee packages for Afghans who aided the U.S. throughout a briefing on the State Department in Washington, DC, U.S. August 2, 2021.
Brendan Smialowski | Reuters
“The U.S. government does not track Americans’ movements when they travel around the world,” Blinken defined. “There could be other Americans in Afghanistan who never enrolled with the embassy, who ignored public evacuation notices and have not yet identified themselves.”
“We’ve also found that many people who contact us and identify themselves as American citizens, including by filling out and submitting repatriation assistance forms, are not, in fact, U.S. citizens, something that can take some time to verify. And some Americans may choose to stay in Afghanistan,” the nation’s prime diplomat mentioned.
The U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan early on Thursday issued a safety alert on its web site urging Americans to keep away from touring to Kabul airport and warned some at sure gates to “leave immediately.”
“U.S. citizens who are at the Abbey Gate, East Gate, or North Gate now should leave immediately.” the alert mentioned.
A State Department spokesperson referred to as it a “dynamic and volatile security environment.”
White House press secretary Jen Psaki mentioned Wednesday that lots of the 1,000 contacts the U.S. is making an attempt to achieve are twin residents who might not need to depart the nation.
“Maybe they have extended family there, maybe they’ve spent their entire lives in Afghanistan and they’re not yet ready to depart,” Psaki advised reporters throughout a press briefing. “Maybe they’re working on a range of projects there and aren’t yet ready to leave them. I know that’s hard for us to understand as we’re looking at the images, but for many of these Afghans, this is their home.”
Blinken’s press convention, his first because the collapse of the Afghan authorities to the Taliban greater than per week in the past, comes as U.S. and coalition forces intensify emergency evacuation flights.
In the previous 24 hours, Western forces evacuated 19,000 individuals out of Kabul on 90 navy cargo plane flights, a cadence of 1 departure flight each 39 minutes, in keeping with the Pentagon.
Evacuees wait to board a Boeing C-17 Globemaster III throughout an evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, August 23, 2021.
Sgt. Isaiah Campbell | U.S. Marine Corps | through Reuters
Since the mass evacuations started Aug. 14, roughly 82,300 individuals have been airlifted out of Afghanistan. About 87,900 individuals have been evacuated because the finish of July, together with about 4,500 U.S. residents and their households.
The Pentagon mentioned Wednesday that 10,000 individuals are at present at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul awaiting a flight. About 5,400 U.S. servicemembers are helping with evacuation efforts, with practically 200 U.S. navy plane devoted to the mission.
President Joe Biden on Tuesday reiterated to leaders of the G-7, NATO, United Nations and European Union that the United States will withdraw its navy from Afghanistan by the tip of the month.
The president warned that staying longer in Afghanistan carries critical dangers for international troops and civilians. Biden mentioned that ISIS-Ok, an Afghanistan-based affiliate of the fear group, presents a rising risk to the airport.
“Every day we’re on the ground is another day we know that ISIS-K is seeking to target the airport and attack both U.S. and allied forces and innocent civilians,” he mentioned.
The Taliban mentioned earlier Tuesday that the group will not enable Afghan nationals to go away the nation on evacuation flights nor will they settle for an extension of the withdrawal deadline past the tip of the month.
“We are not in favor of allowing Afghans to leave,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid advised reporters throughout a press convention on Tuesday.
“They [the Americans] have the opportunity, they have all the resources, they can take all the people that belong to them, but we are not going to allow Afghans to leave and we will not extend the deadline,” he mentioned. Evacuations carried out by international forces after Aug. 31 can be a “violation” of a Biden administration promise to finish the U.S. navy’s mission within the nation, Mujahid mentioned.
Clarification: There could also be as many as 1,500 Americans nonetheless in Afghanistan awaiting evacuation. The State Department has given 500 of them particular directions on how you can attain Hamid Karzai International Airport safely. The U.S. remains to be making an attempt to contact the remaining 1,000, although the quantity who truly need to depart could also be decrease, in keeping with the State Department.
NBC News contributed to this report.
